1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to disinfecting blood, and more particularly to an apparatus configured to irradiate blood by controlled exposure to an ultraviolet light source.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Subjecting blood to ultraviolet light irradiation has been known to kill and eliminate a host of bacterial infections, germs, viruses, and other harmful pathogens and toxins from the body. In undergoing ultraviolet light irradiation treatment, the blood is typically removed from a patient's circulatory system and exposed to an ultraviolet light source before being reintroduced into the patient's body.
A number of devices have been developed, in the past, in an attempt to properly expose germs, bacteria, and other pathogens present in blood plasma to ultraviolet light irradiation. Existing irradiation systems, however, have not been successful in providing a broad level of flexibility in the duration of treatment or the range and intensity of ultraviolet light irradiation provided. As a result, existing treatments using irradiation therapy have generally been limited in scope to a narrow spectrum of ultraviolet light and have been quite restrictive in the combinations of irradiation duration and intensity provided. The limited flexibility provided by existing systems regarding the time and intensity of treatment often results in blood plasma that is untreated or under treated for various ailments. Additionally, existing blood irradiation systems provide very limited, if any, flexibility in the amount of turbulence provided to the blood during treatment and do not provide a practical and efficient way to strategically vary the wide range of other treatment parameters including, for example, the flow velocity or flow path that the blood will be exposed to during treatment.
Accordingly, there is an established need for a practical blood irradiating apparatus solving the aforementioned problems and providing for strategically controlled treatment of blood capable of providing variable light intensity and duration during treatment as well as flexible and controlled blood flow turbulence.